Humanistic and Scientific Approaches to Human activity
Q.31 What was the prediction of the National Safety Council of America in March 1951 ?
Ans. The National Safety Council of America predicted in March 1951 that the one millionth traffic fatality since the first recorded automobile death in 1899 would take place on December 22, 1951.
Q.32 What was the public reaction to this prediction ? Why was ‘it’ so ?
Ans. The public reaction to this prediction was not so as to a tragedy. The reaction was such that can be expected to a scientific generation. The lifeless bodies did not rouse sympathy but their numbering them was simply paying tribute to human genius for accurate measurement.
Q.33 Even though science and literature are concerned with very different areas of human life, they have something in common. Where does the similarity lie ?
Ans. Though science and literature are concerned with very different areas of human life yet they have something in common i.e. their capacity to formulate concepts which give us a new outlook and provide a new measure of control over our observation.
Q.34 How do works of literature extend the range of human emotions ?
Ans. The works of literature involve us in responses as pity, fear, sorrow and pleasure and we cannot remain detach to their human meaning. Sometime they involve us so completely that despite of being intellectually unconvincing, they rouse emotions. The tragedy of Antigone which occurred in classical Athens still touches us. Thus, it is true that the works of literature extend the range of human emotions.
Q.35 Write a short paragraph bringing out the difference between the aims of science and those of the humantities.
Ans. There are certain essential differences between the scientific and humanistic approaches. Some such differences are :
- The effect of the scientific ordering is the detachment from the individual experiences whereas the humanistic ordering encourages attachment or involvement.
- The works of humanities evoke emotional responses while the creations of science have no such concern.
- Both science and humanities make generalizations but their generalizing powers move in different directions. Scientific generalizations make accurate prediction. Humanistic works, on the contrary, are concerned with individual experiences and are thus unique.
- The creations of science aim at the scientific interpretation of natural objects while the humanistic works aim at giving multifarious facts and expressing various significance.
Q.36 What are the different approaches to human activity as laid down by Moody E. Prior in his essay? Illustrate. (2008-09)
Ans. Humanistic and scientific-these are two approaches to human activity. Both the approaches differ from each other. The effect of the scientific ordering to a human activity is to produce detachment from the individual experience, the effect of the humanistic ordering, on the other hand, is to encourage involvement.
Q.37 How does literature share with science the capacity to formulate concepts as propounded by M. E. Prior in his essay ? Elucidate. (2008-09, 10 - 11)
Ans. Literature shares with science the capacity to formulate concepts which give people a new outlook. The creations of science are always neutral or indifferent to their human meaning whereas good works of literature involve us and rouse the feelings such as pity, fear, sorrow and pleasure. They extend our sympathies.
Q.38 Explain the following passage with reference to the context :
“The lifeles body on the highway was a mere number representing the operation of inexorable impersonal laws and paying tribute to our genius for accurate measurement. One could not expect the response to have been otherwise. The closer an intellectual synthesis approaches the scientific ideals, the more completely will the human act lose its individual significance and the more fully will we remain detached from its human meaning. Where numerical formulations are involved, this effect becomes specially noticeable.” (2009-10)
Ans. Reference: -
These lines have been taken from the essay “Hamanistic and scientific Approaches to Human Activity” Written by Moody E. Prior.
Context: -
The writer discusses two per spectines - human and scientist to deal the things in life.
Explanation: -
Science adopts a very different perspective towards life as compared to humanities i.e. arts and literature. It does not relate to the experiences of an individual human being while the latter involves each and every trait and dimension of the human personality. Science is only concerned with the facts and figures without their relevance to individual human’s feelings. It is all about calculations and accuracy and precision of the experiments. As the world is becoming more and more science-oriented, significance of the human life and its emotions is decreasing. People marvel at the scientific brilliance and technological progress without caring about its impact on humanity. More the scientific approach people use, farther they go from the human meaning of life.
Q.39 But, whether for good or ill, it is scientific techniques that is the main cause of the change that the world is undergoing.
Ans. In this essay “The Effect of Scientific Temper on Man”, Bertrand Russell speaks against the pre-17th century concept of Nature. He believes, “Nature does what is does.” Nature does not care for Man’s fears, hopes and needs. He opposes the belief that Nature causes Man’s happiness for his good deeds and Man’s sorrow for bad deeds. Earthquakes come due to natural disorder, not due to Man’s sins. The rain is a Natural process. It is not a reward of Man’s virtues. He also opposes that the fall of comet causes a prince’s death. Death is a natural process. Scientific temper is a logical approach to judge things of Nature truly. It is a comparative study of religious temper and scientific temper. It plays a double role-first refutes old dogmas of pre-17 th C people. Second it shows the people the path of truth and prosperity.
Q.40 The aim of the scientist is to say only one thing at a time, and to say it unambiguously and with the greatest possible clarity. (2009-10)
Ans. Unlike the science, the humanities are concerned with emotional responses to experience and they evoke these response. And this is true of all the arts and in varying degree of most humanistic writing. Another difference is that the humanities address themselves to an understanding and an evaluation of human goals, and this while less apparent with the most abstract arts like music, is especially apparent in all forms of humanistic discourse.
So the aim of scientist is to say only one thing at a time, and to say it unambiguously and with the greatest possible clarity.
The Effect of the Scientific Temper on Man
Q.41 Why did, according to men of the pre-scientific era, earthquakes occur ?
Ans. According to men of the pre-scientific era earthquakes occurred in order to punish the sinners, just as refreshing rain was sent as the reward to virtue.
Q.42 What was the essence of the scientific attitude with reference to natural phenomena ?
Ans. The essence of the scientific attitude to natural phenomena was that Nature does what it does and does not take into consideration what we wish or what we should fear.
Q.43 Who are the men who are thought to be embodiments of western culture ?
Ans. The men who are though to be embodiments of western culture are those who are ignorant of this development.
Q.44 To whom does ‘a tiny majority’ refer?
Ans. A ‘tiny majority’ refers to the men due to whom the modern world has developed but they are regarded uncouth specialists by their literary counterparts.
Q.45 In which country did the Industrial Revolution begin ? Where did it spread ?
Ans. The Industrial Revolution began in England. Then it spread to other countries of west, and, later, to Russia and Asia.
Q.46 What is the main cause of the changes taking place in the world today ?
Ans. The main cause of the changes taking place in the world today is scientific technique.
Q.47 Write the summary of this essay.
Related Questions -
Q. How is the East indebted to the West in terms of imbibing scientific techniques for their development as described by B. Russell in his essay ‘The Effect of Scientific Temper on Man’? (2012 - 13)
Q. What is the effect of scientific temper on human civilization as illustrated by Bertrand Russell in his essay? (2013 - 14)
Ans. Whether for good or evil, it is the scientific technique that is the main cause of the changes that the world is undergoing. Now, let’s trace the steps through which this technique has been gradually developed. In the sixteenth century, baseless traditions were accepted as if they were recorded facts. For instance, the heavenly bodies were supposed to move in circles because the circle appealed to aesthetic taste of peoplel as perfect figure; refreshing rain was sent to punish sin, and so on. But Kepler’s discovery in the seventeenth century that the planets moved in ellipses and not in circles proved this belief as false and paved the way for nurturing scientific temper. People believed that nature does what it does unconscious of our existence. It is from the realization of this fact that the modern world has inexorably developed. However it is not pure science but scientific technique that represents most fully the influence of the West upon mankind. For instance, the Industrial Revolution that began in Lancashire and Yorkshire and on the Clyde, spread first to other countries of the West and later to Russia and Asia which it completely transformed.
Q.48. In what manner is the East indebted to the West in terms of social change as envisaged by B. Russell in his essay? (2013 - 14)
Ans. The embodiments of the western culture in the west who were, at first in a tiny majority and now are in the main, are ignorant of this development. Whether for good or ill, it is scientific technique that is the main cause of the changes that the world is undergoing. The Industrial Revolution which contributed to the defeat of Napolean was hated in the country where it originated but later is spread to other western countries and to Russia and Asia which it is changing. Whether the scientific technique which alone the east wants to learn is boon or a disaster.